Mae West: Very, Very Fast

A very long article about MAE WEST and her career in Tinseltown appeared five years ago.  It was written by Paul Phaneuf. Let's enjoy it together. This is Part 11.
• • Mae West: "I'm here to make talkies" or Censor Will vs. Diamond Lil • •
• • "I take my liberties in my timing" • • 
• • Paul Phaneuf wrote:   As Mae explained, "As a rule I have most actors around me work faster than I do; they keep the pace while I take my liberties in my timing." But as she had noted, due to the the slow pace of "Night After Night." she told her manager: "I'm going to change my tempo and work very, very fast. This picture needs a big lift to pick up the speed and wake an audience up." And Maudie Triplett did just that. "Maudie and I have a great deal in common," she said.
• • Her other big scene in the film is "the morning after." She and Miss Jellyman have taken a room together in the club and wake up the following afternoon. Both women are dressed only in their slips, but there's no intimation that anything physical has occurred. Jellyman is beside herself as she has missed teaching her morning class at a local finishing school. Mae reassures her by pouring her another drink and offering Jellyman a job.
• • The oldest profession • •  . . .
• • This was Part 11. Part  12 will appear tomorrow.
• • Source:  Article by Paul Phaneuf in Films of the Golden Age Magazine;  issue dated 5 November 2011. Used with permission.
• • On Saturday, 17 January 1931 • •
• • The novel "Babe Gordon" by Mae West was given some snooty scrutiny in the Daily Princetonian (page 2), Volume 55, Number 171; book review published on Saturday, 17 January 1931.
• • The critic wrote: Well, anyway, for erotic description La West is pretty darned good ...
• • On Wednesday, 17 January 1934 in The L.A. Times • •
• • Covering the trial, and Mae's testimony about the frightening jewel heist engineered by brazen Harry Voiler, The Los Angeles Times wrote this: Mae West swayed into court on high French heels and hitched up her hips as she made ready to climb into the witness box. A mink coat made Mae West look like any other well-dressed woman from the rear but it was the front view that wowed the crowded courtroom. It may not be done on purpose but Miss West has a trick way of carrying her hands when she walks . . . and there is no question that it went over big. She wore her coat unbuttoned and placed the backs of her hands on her body just below the hips, well to the rear."
• • Overheard in Hollywood • •
• • Mae West has resolved to do this: Not to give another interview on "How to Hold a Man." After all, I've never had one, Mae West told us.
• • In Her Own Words • •
• • Mae West said: "Like men? Sure, I've known lots of them, but in later years I've never found one I liked well enough to marry." 
• • Quote, Unquote • •
• • Associated Press covered this Mae West drama.
• • Mae West Thrills Court Crowd With Theft Story

• • (By Associated Press) LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16. Cloaked in ermine, Mae West thrilled a gaping courtroom today with the story of how she lost her "rocks" and her "poke" to a holdup man on an autumn night of 1932.
• • Testifying in the robbery trial of Edward Friedman, she said he looked "very much" like the man who brandished a pistol and took her $12,000 in gems and purse containing $3400 cash. She said he called the purse a "poke." Miss West, now a movie star, admitted she was frightened by the robber. She said she did not care so much about her jewels and money, but thought perhaps he might "hit me in the face and maybe break my nose and knock a couple of teeth out."  
• • "I could make back that $3,400 anytime, but I couldn't get me a new face," the blond actress of the undulating walk averred. "I was remembering my movie contract."
• • The robber confronted her, she said, as she sat in her automobile in front of her apartment house. Her manager, Joseph Timony had gone inside briefly and Harry Voiler remained with her In the car as her friend. But Voiler was indicted with Friedman, and is now fighting extradition from Illinois. The state charges Voiler Instigated the plot. A third man, Morris Cohen, also Indicted, is still at large.
• • In picturesque, expressive language, Miss West described the hold-up in detail, telling how she divested herself of her jewels as slowly as possible in the vain hope that Timony would re-appear and thwart the hold-up.
• • Four guards supplied by authorities hovered about Miss West while she was in court. They were assigned to duty as the result of reports she had received telephone threats warning her not to testify in the case.  ...
• • Source:  Article written and syndicated by Associated Press;  published on Wednesday, 17 January 1934 
• • The Mae West Blog celebrates its 12th anniversary • •  
• • Thank you for reading, sending questions, and posting comments during these past eleven years. The other day we entertained 3,497 visitors. And we reached a milestone recently when we completed 3,500 blog posts. Wow! 
• • By the Numbers • •
• • The Mae West Blog was started ten years ago in July 2004. You are reading the 3619th blog post. Unlike many blogs, which draw upon reprinted content from a newspaper or a magazine and/ or summaries, links, or photos, the mainstay of this blog is its fresh material focused on the life and career of Mae West, herself an American original.

• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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• • Photo: • • Mae West • • in 1934 • •
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